» Florida is returning 43 letterwiners and 11 starters from the 2009 season – six on offense (junior running back Jeff Demps, redshirt junior wide receiver Deonte Thompson, senior center Mike Pouncey, sophomore left tackle Xavier Nixon, redshirt seniors guard Carl Johnson and right tackle Marcus Gilbert) and five on defense (senior safety Ahmad Black, junior cornerback Janoris Jenkins, redshirt seniors linebacker A.J. Jones and defensive tackle Terron Sanders, redshirt sophomore DT Omar Hunter).
» The Gators have a SEC-best opening day winning streak of 20 games and are 76-27 all-time to start the season (62-6 in Gainesville). Teams coached by Meyer at any point in his career are 18-5 to begin the season; he has 16-straight opening day victories.
» Florida is also sporting a 10-game home winning streak and has won 20 consecutive regular season games. The Orange and Blue has a .897 (113-13) winning percentage at Florida Field since 1990, good for best in the nation.
» Miami (OH) leads the all-time series against UF 1-0, defeating the Gators 16-7 in The Swamp in the 1973 Tangerine Bowl; Florida is 10-3 all-time against the MAC.
» The Gators are the only team in the nation to finish the season in the top three in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches’ polls in three of the past four years; Florida is also the only school in the country to be ranked in the top five of the preseason coaches’ poll in each of the last four years.
» The RedHawks’ passing offense and passing defense each ranked 23rd in the nation in 2009, respectively throwing for 273.2 and giving up 190.4 yards per game.
» UF committed a nation-low 81 turnovers since 2005 and has had 23 games in which they did not give up a single turnover (best in the nation).

KEEP AN EYE ON…

» Redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley…who will be starting the first game of his Florida career. In 2009, he went 36-of-48 for 410 yards and seven touchdowns. Brantley tossed 75 percent of his balls for completions and finished the year with a QB rating of 194.9. He has thrown 61 consecutive passes without an interception and has a 10-1 TD/INT ratio for his Gators career.
» Florida’s veteran offensive line…which has combined for 87 career starts and is led by Pouncey (32). That total is the highest among returning offensive linemen since Meyer’s first season as coach in 2005.
» Redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Rainey…who is moving to the slot after playing running back for two seasons. Rainey will be explosive while playing a modified “Percy Position” and could very well be the team’s best offensive weapon this season.
» Linebackers sophomore Jon Bostic and redshirt freshman Jelani Jenkins…who are each trying to win the starting role in the middle but will likely split snaps Saturday. The same goes for cornerbacks redshirt sophomore Jeremy Brown and senior Moses Jenkins, each of whom hope to win the job opposite junior Janoris Jenkins.
» Redshirt freshman WR Andre Debose…who missed the entire 2009 season with a hamstring injury but remains a five-star recruit expected to make an immediate impact.
» Junior kicker Caleb Sturgis…who set a UF record for field goal attempted in a season (30) in 2009 and had the second-highest total of field goals made in school history (22).
» Freshman QB Trey Burton…who has been receiving extra attention at tight end during practices and is one of Meyer’s favorite youngsters. With other TEs injured and developing, Burton may see action early and often.

The host of the first game to air Saturday on ESPN, Florida will be profiled in part during the network’s College GameDay broadcast beginning at 9 a.m. on ESPNU (hosted by Erin Andrews) and continuing from 10 a.m. until noon on ESPN. The main feature on the Gators will be a report from Tom Rinaldi focusing on Meyer’s decision to unretire one day after resigning from his job before the 2010 Sugar Bowl. Additionally, ESPN will feature a sound bite from Meyer talking about Florida’s offense, which will then be discussed by analysts Desmond Howard and David Pollack.

With numerous winning streaks on the line and the dawn of a new season in front of them, the No. 3 Florida Gators begin the 2010-11 campaign by hosting the Miami (OH) RedHawks at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL.

Questions surrounding the Gators range from how well redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley will perform in replacing Tim Tebow to whether or not Florida’s inexperienced defensive line will be enough to support the team’s talented secondary. In the end, head coach Urban Meyer is simply looking to get the Gators off to a hot start on the way to hopefully winning his 17th consecutive opening day game.

The RedHawks, returning every offensive starter from a 1-11 season, are led by redshirt sophomore QB Zac Dysert, whom many believe may be the best signal caller in the Mid-American Conference. Dysert is capable of making plays with both his arms and legs, but Miami’s offensive line has not done his talent justice protection-wise in the past.

Michael Haywood, the RedHawk’s head coach, has expressed concern with his team handling the Gators’ speed – on both offense and defense. Though Florida junior running back Jeff Demps and redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Rainey are set to be unleashed, Haywood believes UF’s defense quickness is “unbelievable,” noting that the linemen are “exploding off the ball, dipping and ripping and turning the corner.”

Miami will get a chance to see that speed up close and personal when they visit The Swamp on Saturday. Catch the Gators’ opener live on television on ESPN, online at ESPN3.com, via the radio or through OGGOA‘s live updates on Twitter.

Dont blame all on Pouncey. Brantley could have “easily” caught half a dozen of those bad snaps. He also over and underthrew a lot. Whats up with his decision making. Not impressed with Brantley at all. Sure a good long ball was dropped in the 1st quarter but that is it. The offense including Brantley are sub par for SEC and the defense is maybe par. Sure they looked better than the O but they were defending Miami of Ohio. Other offenses in the SEC with dominate the Gators. I predict 5 losses or more. I thought maybe two before this game but 5 at least. Remember this post come december.

True. Brantley could have corralled some of those god awful snaps, but that’s just it, the snaps were GOD AWFUL! You can’t expect Brantley to get all the snaps when Pouncey’s rolling the damn ball to him! He really needs to work on it!

Burton, Hines and some Brantley looked good.
The Defense looks like they can gel into a menacing force, thank God.

The MASH unit, wow, I’m not liking SEC play without the 1’s treated, healed and recovered. The 2’s and 3’s certainly need more reps. Daz, I would say your cross training colorful smoke screen so fair is a FAIL.

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